


Dragged from Under the Shadows

by Aitimbre



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: Awkward Conversations, Budding Love, Fluff, M/M, Oblivious Yuta, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slow Burn, highschool romcom cliches aplenty
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-06
Updated: 2016-09-09
Packaged: 2018-08-13 09:01:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7970878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aitimbre/pseuds/Aitimbre
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sengoku's perfect spot was in the back corner of the classroom - a place where the light was dim and the shadows cascaded over his desk. It was an ideal location for a ninja to roost, able to see all without being seen himself. </p><p>The middle desk in the middle row was less ideal. </p><p>There, there were things to distract him from his practices, most of all that orange-haired twin that he couldn't keep his eyes off of.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Middle Desk in the Middle Row

**Author's Note:**

> I will humbly admit that this is the first fanfiction that I have written in well over a year. At least, the first that I have mustered the guts to publish. And, as such, bear with me as I'm likely a little rusty. 
> 
> Regardless, I hope you can enjoy !

_“To reach the point of zen where breathing is no longer necessary. This is truly the goal of all exceptional ninjas. Certainly a skill that will be necessary for myself in many situations involving infiltration. After all, a ninja who cannot keep himself hidden well is hardly one worthy of calling himself a ninja at all._

_Despite my practice, my breathing seems to remain heavy?”_

The first year tried not to fidget in his chair, but with every passing moment, he began to feel more and more uncomfortable.

It must have been due to the poor structural integrity of the desk. No ninja could work efficiently in such conditions.

But really, it wasn’t that which was leaving him in such a state of discomfort. It was his choice of sitting, or, rather, the place he was forced to sit.

Normally, Shinobu would arrive early into his classroom of 1-B, sneaking his way to the desk comfortably placed in the deepest corner of the classroom. It was always an agreeable distance away from any others, its position leaving it cloaked in dark shadows – two things in his favor. However, a frog companion of his had snuck away unbeknownst to him in the early morning, leaving the young ninja to track him down. This took longer than anticipated, resulting in him arriving at his classroom much later than was normal.

As a direct result, one of his classmates seemed to have already claimed the perfectly-placed desk as their own by the time he'd entered through the doorway. This was either someone who wasn’t aware of that seat _belonging_ to Shinobu, or one who wished to directly antagonize him (which would fit what he knew of his pink-haired classmate).

Either way, this left the ninja displaced, which in any case was a position most distasteful for one whose biggest fear is vulnerability.

Not wanting to attract any more attention, Shinobu quickly retreated to a random seat, one that ended up being the middle desk in the middle row. As he sat down in that chair, he could feel the classroom's light exposing him, and he could hear the laugh of god, amused by his pathetic state.

And thus we have made it to the present.

_“Any skilled in the art would be able to keep himself calm and collected even when at his most vulnerable. If anything, this experience will serve just as a reminder to keep up my training!”_

He made an attempt at consoling himself, using meaningless thoughts to drown out the anxiety that was relentlessly pouring in.

_“I may not be the best at human interaction, but being in this position does not mean I will be forced to endure any. I must power through!”_

Though as fate may have it, it wasn’t much longer until he could hear the creaking of a chair from at his side.

He dared not look, even when the individual sitting next to him spoke: “Hey, uhm. You don’t mind if I sit here, do you?”

There was no response.

“I mean, I normally sit here anyways, but since I’ve never actually seen _you_ sit _there_ , I thought I’d ask, ya know?”

Once again, no answer. Though it could easily be interpreted as purposefully ignorant behavior, such was not Sengoku’s intention. Instead, cogs were madly spinning in his head, desperately trying to come up with some reasonable response. The systems, not used to this amount of work, quickly short-circuited, leaving him to fend for himself with whatever words decided to come to him.

“I – I apologize for my rudeness, which I’m sure was how I looked to you, didn’t I?" He fumbled around, trying to recall what it was that his new neighbor had even asked.

"I do not mind whatsoever! I certainly would have answered you earlier, but it seems I had forgotten to speak! I ask for you to forgive this humbled ninja.” He spoke this all to the open air, afraid to turn in head, in fear of the angry expression he’d be greeted with.

Instead, all he heard were puzzled words. “Forgot to speak? I guess that _would_ keep you from answering me.” The mystery voice said, any significant meaning difficult to interpret through Shinobu’s own panicked embarrassment.

“Well, anyways, feel free to talk to me if you need anything. That is, if you remember to, of course.”

Fingers gripping tightly to the far edge of his desk, Sengoku tried in vain to quell the redness that harshly dusted his face. Whoever this person was, they most certainly weren't someone he could ever imagine being on good terms with ever again. Lacking any social etiquette, he was aware that he was the sort of ninja to fall victim to awkward moments just like that regularly. No matter how many times it happened though, Shinobu never seemed able to get over the overwhelming shame.

Regardless of it all, he was still hit with the curiosity in finding out which of his classmates this was that he’d just plundered in front of.

Naturally, it wasn’t Tetora – his exuberant voice would be hard to miss. Other than him, however, he didn’t know many others in his classroom, even after all this time.

Figuring, by sudden insanity, that it was safe to snatch a quick look, he did exactly that. This decision elicited the exact emotion he expected it to.

_“Aoi Yuuta, one of the two members of the twin-unit 2wink. I haven’t spent much time with him; this must have left an awful impression.”_

Noticing that his turned glance caught the attention of the twin, Sengoku snapped his neck back, staring at the glossed-over wood of his desk.

_“Hopefully he didn’t see a thing. To be caught unawares like this is only making my dignity as a ninja crumble that much more!”_

But no other words were exchanged between the two first years, an unsteady silence instead replacing it.

 

* * *

 

His sharp, golden eyes honed in on the clock as they often did during the end of most classes. If it wasn’t one on Japanese History or frog biology, Shinobu was quick to turn his mind off to anything around him.  Oddly enough however, it was more difficult today to do so than usual.

Though he paid close attention to the hands on the clock as they ticked and tocked repeatedly, a blur of orange and blue in his peripherals constantly distracted him.

Ever since he’d taken that first glance Yuta’s way, a subconscious part of him would be drawn back, wanting just one more look. But quick glances slowly evolved into intense examinations, and by the end of the day he hardly spent any time watching the clock at all. Instead, he was fixated by the way his orange hair curls delicately below his chin, the cool intelligence in his striking green eyes. That, and all of his subtle mannerisms, left Sengoku with a tingle in his chest and a lack of breath, all for reasons he could not comprehend.

  _“Surely this is simply a case of my wanting to familiarize myself with my surroundings, as all good ninjas should.”_

Which Shinobu thought to himself was a perfectly viable explanation for all of this. However, when the bell chimed and students filed out into the halls, Shinobu was struck with a feeling as empty as the room surrounding him now was. It eluded him for sometime, with ideas bouncing off his mind ranging from too much exposure to strangers to the beginnings of a cold. None of these seemed to be the case, he concluded by the time he'd arrived at home. This had nothing to do with any ninja practices - what he'd encountered was something none of his lessons had prepared him for.

As anyone who has also come to this realization the first time can understand, he was left with conflicting emotions, as well as many questions he figured would never be answered.


	2. What a Bother

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yuta begins to do a bit of sleuthing to figure out what's with this Shinobu fellow, all while the fellow in question tries to muster up the courage to do what he almost never does by his own choosing - socialize.

“Sengoku? What about him?” The tall first year asked, shuffling backwards a bit due to how close his interrogator was.

“Oh, well. I just got to thinking that he’s been in the same class as me for a while, but I don’t know anything about him.” Yuta blushed a bit, kicking the dirt at his feet. He didn’t want anyone thinking he had any sort of ulterior motives. Which he didn’t – at least he didn’t think so. What he’d told Midori really had been true – he’d gotten to know so many of his classmates on a comfortable basis. But Sengoku… it was like he’d always been absent from his memories.

 Midori let out a heavy sigh, the way he seemed to typically react to anything that asked much of him. “I’m not even sure why you’d ask me. I may be in Ryuseitai with him, but it doesn’t mean I’m close friends with him.” His eyes shot down to the ground as he spoke, as if this fact bothered him a bit. “I’m not really close friends with anyone in my unit…”

 Having not wanted to trigger something in the easily-upset teenager, Yuta wildly gesticulated, as if expecting this would do anything in the slightest to comfort the guy. “No-no, I get that, I get that… I just, well, figured that someone from his unit would at least know _something_ about him.” Also because of the fact that Midori seemed the easiest to approach out of the rest of the… high-energy Ryuseitai members.

 Continuing to speak, his voice lowered a bit, craning his neck a bit closer as if telling a casual secret. “Because, well.” The twin lowered his arms, shrugging.

 “I don’t have a clue.”

\--

In the end, after a bit of moping and soft exclamations of “I want to die”, Midori told Yuta what he knew about the vertically-challenged ninja. It was the kind of stuff he’d expected to hear, largely along the lines of “Sengoku's a really weird guy, sneaks around a lot and thinks of himself as some sort of ‘ninja’.” This, of course, was no news to Yuta.

 But what did strike him as intriguing was the last thing Midori added before drifting away; “He can be pretty loud though, if you catch him off guard. I don’t think he’s really that good at talking to people. It’s kind of a bother, really…”

 Yuta pondered this idea on his walk to meet up with his brother for practice. “Forgetting how to talk, huh?” He recalled from earlier, puzzle pieces beginning to uncover more of the big picture. Though it certainly sounded like a bother, something about it made him smile.

 

* * *

_“There he is. Now’s your chance to retain your pride. Even a top-class ninja can’t get anywhere without social skills!”_ The dark-purple haired teenager locked onto his target, looking him up and down as he slid open the door to classroom 1-B. Paying close attention to Yuta’s nonchalant gait as he slung his messenger bag down beside his desk, Shinobu watched Yuta up until the point where their eyes met.

 Face scorching from embarrassment of just the thought of what he was about to do, he made a poor attempt at covering up his face with the sleeve of his uniform, still peeking tentative looks Yuta’s way. _“I don’t think he noticed anything. I hope he didn’t notice anything – to blow my cover this early on in a mission is like asking for death! I must proceed with the utmost caution.”_

 In doing this he slowly uncovered his face, eyes narrowed in concentration as he stood himself up from his desk. _“Yes, by looking above him I will have declared dominance over the situation, which in any predicament where a ninja must face his opponent one-on-one is the ideal.”_

That went smoothly enough. However, the difficult part was getting himself to actually walk in front of Yuta’s desk, initiating a conversation.

 He’d almost made the bold move of doing so, but in a moment of panic swerved the other direction, leaving the classroom to ‘use the restroom’. Once returning from that unnecessary detour, he assured himself that now he was ready. And in a way he did do what he’d set out to, as he walked right up in front of Yuta, blocking the red-headed twin’s vision from where he currently sat.

 “Hey. Do you need anything?” Yuta asked nonchalantly, giving the teenage ninja a pleasant smile. This move proved to be fatal, as within moments Shinonu was a blubbering mess, stuttering over his words and tripping over unfinished phrases, discarding them for another that soon fell short itself.

 “Oh- well, uhm, it wasn’t anything important. Just, well, ya see, I kind of, sorta…” Realizing he’d never so much as came up with a topic of conversation, Shinobu, now on autopilot, picked up his pencil from off his desk, dropping it behind his back with the speed and precision expected from a ninja-in-training.

 “I was just walking over to pick up my pencil. You see, that pencil just happened to slip from my grasp and roll under your desk of seating.” Both he and Yuta looked to see if it were the case, each noticing the pencil resting just beside Yuta’s shoes.

 Yuta sat himself up, as if preparing to stand. “Don’t worry about that, I can get it for you.”

 “I couldn’t ask you to do such a thing. Not only have I bothered you enough by interrupting you so rudely, but to ask you to do something for me would go against my honor.” Shinobu completely bullshitted, not sure such a thing existed. “I am perfectly fine with doing this myself.”

 Shinobu could hear something along the vague lines of “If you say so,” as he crouched down on all fours, crawling under the desk and reaching out for the pencil. Having snatched it with a skilled swoop of his hand, he lifted up his head to get back out, in doing so being greeted by a face full of unfamiliar crotch.

 The bang of head against metal  could be heard, as well as a cry of pain soon following. Yuta, more or less unaware of what had just transpired, stumbled out of his chair to help his classmate out.

 “Geesh, it sounded like you hit that pretty hard- are you alright?” Yuta called, hovering beside Shinobu, who had fallen backwards out from the desk and onto his butt.

 “O-of course I am. I just slipped a bit, is all.” Shinobu lied, dusting off his plaid pants with shaky hands.

 "Noticeably relieved to hear this, Yuta nodded once before returning to his desk. “Sounds good then. Just let me know if it ends up hurting more later. The least I could do is walk you to the nurse’s room.”

 Standing up with legs as unreliable as a newborn fawn’s, Shinobu shook his head with fervor. “I could not ask that. I prefer to keep my issues to myself. However, I am much obliged.” With that he sat himself down, throbbing head trying with little success to move along to other things.

 But as Shinobu sat in the middle row in the middle desk, he couldn’t help but wish he’d taken Yuta up on that offer.


End file.
